The invention relates to the field of electrolytic cells, with particular reference to electrolyte-percolating electrolysis cells. In the following, reference will be made to the particular case of cells for depolarised chlor-alkali electrolysis making use of oxygen-fed gas-diffusion cathodes, since they largely represent the most relevant industrial application for such class of devices. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate the applicability of the same invention to other percolation-type cells, wherein the electrode of the invention may be applied as the anode or as the cathode, or optionally for both uses (as occurs for instance in the known case of alkaline fuel cells with percolating electrolyte).
Advanced chlor-alkali electrolysis is carried out with cells separated into a cathodic compartment and an anodic compartment by means of an ion-exchange membrane; the depolarised process with oxygen cathode provides the suppression of the hydrogen evolution cathodic reaction, typical of the chlor-alkali process of the previous generation, by means of the reduction of a flow of oxygen taking place on the surface of a gas-diffusion cathode, with consequent cell voltage lowering of about 30% in the common operative conditions. Making reference to the most typical case of an electrolysis of sodium chloride brine, as a replacement for the reaction typical of the traditional process:2NaCl+2H2O→2NaOH+Cl2+H2 the following overall reaction is accomplished:4NaCl+2H2O+O2→4NaOH+2Cl2 
The gas-diffusion cathode whereon the oxygen reduction is carried out is a porous structure usually consisting of a reticulated metallic material (normally silver or nickel optionally coated with a silver thin film, in order to withstand the highly corrosive conditions) acting as current collector and as mechanical support for a porous material displaying diffusive properties, in its turn usually comprising a metal catalyst to promote the oxygen reduction reaction, a polymer binder and optionally a filling material based on carbon or other preferably conductive inert. Besides the reduction of oxygen, the production of a caustic solution in the liquid phase takes place at the cathode of this type of cell; the cathode is therefore on one hand supplied with an oxygen gas flow, and on the other hand put in contact with a solution consisting of a caustic product that has to be efficiently extracted from the electrode porosity. In cells of industrial size, the hydraulic head established between gas and solution side must be adequately compensated to make the electrodic structure capable of withstanding the same without being flooded by the caustic product (or conversely, in case of negative pressure differential with respect to the solution, of preventing sensible oxygen losses). Several solutions were proposed in the past to overcome this problem, the most effective of which consists of allowing the caustic product to percolate across a suitable porous element interposed between the cathode surface opposite the gas side and the ion-exchange membrane, as disclosed for instance in the international patent application WO 01/57290, incorporated herein in its entirety. In this way, the pressure of caustic hydraulic head is efficiently released along the whole electrode height.
As a further advantage, the presence of a porous percolator allows transmitting a mechanical pressure from the anodic surface to the cathodic one across the membrane, the percolator itself and the gas-diffusion cathode. In such a way the electric current may be transferred from the cathodic current collector—suitably provided with an elastic structure—to the gas-diffusion cathode by contacting its back surface in a distributed fashion (and not in a localised one, for example by welds, as is the case for other cell configurations). It follows that with this arrangement, the gas-diffusion cathode can forgo the presence of an internal current collecting structure.
In the document cited herein, there is disclosed in particular the use of metallic percolators, such as nickel foams; however, to prevent the corrosion phenomena which take place in such an aggressive environment from giving rise to the dangerous release of metal ions into the caustic solution, it is preferable to employ a corrosion-resistant plastic-material, for instance a perfluorinated material, as the percolator, as disclosed in the international patent application WO 03/042430, incorporated herein in its entirety.
The solution proposed in the latter document however does not entirely solve the corrosion and metal ion contamination problems, since the same gas-diffusion cathode, as previously mentioned, normally consists of a metallic backbone, usually a silver or silver-plated nickel structure: in fact, the only constructive alternative to the metal mesh of the prior art consists of using carbonaceous substrates (for instance carbon cloths), also prone to the corrosive action of the caustic solution which, in combination with the electrical potential level established by the oxygen flow, spoils their mechanical properties after a certain time. Besides being subject, to a certain extent, to dissolution phenomena, the metal meshes of the prior art involve heavy problems of cost limiting the commercial success of these technologies indicatively, the meshes employed in the more widespread chlor-alkali applications consist of pure silver at an overall loading of about 500 g/m2, while in the case of silver-plated nickel the higher costs of production strongly limit the projected savings, besides providing a product of overall lesser quality in terms of corrosion resistance.